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Homeland Security says Gessler may check voter citizenship

By Sara BurnettThe Denver Post

Posted:
07/16/2012 06:12:28 PM MDT

Updated:
07/16/2012 06:49:06 PM MDT

The Department of Homeland Security agreed Monday to let Colorado and other states access a DHS database to verify the citizenship of some registered voters — news that was hailed as a win for Secretary of State Scott Gessler and other Republican election officials but had their critics on high alert.

"I'm pleased that DHS has agreed to work with states to verify the citizenship of people on the voter rolls and help reduce our vulnerability," Gessler said. "Coloradans deserve to know we have these most basic protections for election integrity."

Gessler met with a representative from DHS during a meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State in Puerto Rico Monday to begin working out an agreement.

While details have not been finalized, Andrew Cole, a spokesman for Gessler, said the office will not use the information to immediately purge anyone it flags as a noncitizen. Instead, those people would receive a letter from Gessler's office alerting them that they have been identified as a noncitizen and asking them to respond if they believe a mistake has been made.

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Gessler's office would also flag noncitizens in the state voter registration database, but it would be up to individual county clerks — whose job it is, by statute, to maintain voter rolls — to ultimately cancel anyone from the system. Under federal law, the deadline is Aug. 8 to make changes for the Nov. 6 election.

As of late last week, Gessler's office hadn't talked with the county clerks about what it was working on, so the president of the Colorado County Clerks Association said he couldn't comment. He could not be reached for comment late Monday.

Critics of Gessler's efforts, who agree only eligible citizens should be allowed to cast ballots, say they remain skeptical — and vigilant — amid concerns this is a politically motivated attempt to discourage minorities, who lean Democratic, from going to the polls.

They also question the accuracy of the database the states will be using, and worry that errors could lead to a citizen who is eligible to vote being wrongly denied their Constitutional right.

"We're obviously very concerned with what is now a number of unusual steps taken by (Gessler)," said Matt Inzeo, spokesman for the Colorado Democratic Party. "We're going to be watching closely during this process, and our concerns certainly aren't going away."

Gessler's office has compiled a list of about 5,000 people it says have registered to vote who also used a noncitizen document, such as an alien-registration card, when they applied for a driver's license. They also have a list of about 85 people who appear to be registered to vote and who were held in one of 10 county jails on an immigration detainer sometime since 2010.

The database the state would be using to check those individuals is known as SAVE, or Systematic Alienation Verification for Entitlements, and is currently used by agencies that administer government aid such as Medicaid, to verify that only eligible people get public benefits.

It contains information on people who are legal noncitizens — so it does not include names of illegal immigrants.

In his letter to DHS, Suthers acknowledged the program has limitations but he said access to the information would allow Colorado to determine if people on the list of roughly 5,000 have since become citizens and are legally registered to vote.

He also noted the system is largely based on documents an immigrant provides when he or she applies for a driver's license — so if someone used a fraudulent document at that time, it may not be discovered through SAVE.

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